Mermaid Quay – the Schroders Capital team, managing its UK Real Estate Fund’s popular 150,000 sq ft mixed-use destination on the waterfront in Cardiff Bay – has partnered with the local community and the Rugby Codebreakers project to install a statue at Landsea Square celebrating the achievements of three pioneering rugby league players from the city.
The statue recognises Billy Boston, Gus Risman, and Clive Sullivan who were selected following a public vote which received over 14,000 votes to commemorate the Cardiff Bay Codebreakers. The public and a panel of experts agreed on the trio that will represent all the players who headed to the North of England from Cardiff Bay to play professional rugby league. The public were offered a list of 13 former greats who were all born in an area that took in the old Tiger Bay, Butetown, Grangetown, Adamsdown, and Splott areas of South Cardiff and were invited to vote for their favourite three.
The ‘One Team – One Race, Honouring the Cardiff Bay Rugby Codebreakers’ project launched on Sporting Heritage Day in 2020 and was inspired by calls from the Butetown and wider Cardiff Bay communities for a fitting tribute to the players who did so much to improve race relations across Britain. The project raised money to create the statue which recognises the contribution the Codebreakers played in rugby league over the past 120 years and celebrate Cardiff’s multi-cultural community. The monument also outlines how many of these players battled prejudice and racism before leaving Wales to find games as rugby league superstars in the North of England.
The 13 Cardiff Bay Rugby Codebreakers included nine Great Britain internationals, 12 Welsh internationals, three rugby league hall of famers, four members of the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame Roll of Honour and won a collective three World Cups and 17 Challenge Cup finals.
The installation of the Rugby Codebreakers statue is the latest in several public realm improvements which have taken place across Mermaid Quay over the past year. These included the transformation of Tacoma Square into a stylish new landscaped public space ideal for the centre’s extensive programme of events and entertainment, as well as an area where people can sit and enjoy the waterfront. These multi-million pound projects have been undertaken as part of Schroders Capital’s Real Estate Fund’s commitment to the local community and improvement works have also included new wall finishes, paving, lighting, landscaping, signage and wayfinding, entrance markers, feature seating and street furniture, improving the experience for local residents and visitors.
James Pentlow, Schroders Capital’s UK Real Estate Fund’s Asset Manager for Mermaid Quay, said: “We are proud to have been able to support the Codebreakers project and it is fantastic to have a permanent tribute to three Cardiff Bay pioneers installed at Mermaid Quay.
“We strive, and continue to invest, to ensure Mermaid Quay is a vibrant retail and leisure scheme that serves both the community, and our customers who live and work in the bay.
“The installation of this magnificent statue is more than a tribute to three sportsman, but recognition of the local community and the bay’s heritage.”
Ken Poole, Director of Cardiff Bay Rugby Codebreakers Ltd, said: “Thank you to Mermaid Quay and its owners, the Schroders Capital UK Real Estate Fund, for their generous support with the site engineering and logistics to put in place the Codebreakers statue in its iconic location in Cardiff Bay. This is reflective of the wider support the project has received from the business community in Cardiff working alongside the principal funders of the statue.”
